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This #InternationalDayOfWomenAndGirlsInScience I’d like to highlight some aspects of being an *international woman in science*. For a lot of women of color from developing countries, a scientist is someone who exists in books, not a real career option you’re aware of growing up.
Often you’re fighting not just lack of awareness, resources and opportunities but also deeply patriarchal cultures where women are horribly mistreated and pushing back against the norms is actively punished. And before US folks jump in with “it happens in the US too” sure but the
severity and extent is dramatically different. I don’t really like sharing my personal experiences because on the one hand, people from the west kindly try to assure me it’s the same everywhere (nope!) and on the other, it angers the more conservative people from my home country.
So it can be an isolating experience in many ways, being not just a woman in science but a woman of color and an immigrant too. Much of this has probably been said more eloquently by various scholars but since only I can tell my story I wanted to say a few things anyway.
Science intellectually feels like home to me, yet I’m an outsider in many ways. The US feels like home, yet I’m an outsider here too. Many immigrants echo this sentiment, the precariousness of existing in two worlds, two cultures, knowing you can’t go back where you grew up.
Leaving the familiarity of a home, even one that was never safe or comfortable, is hard. Dreaming of things you’ve never seen or known is hard. And when you get where you want to be, thinking you finally belong, finding that you’re the only woman in the room is really hard.
But my journey is only beginning and I know there are so many other woc out there dreaming of becoming scientists. I just want to say to you: you are amazing!! Good or bad, it’s all been an intensely ALIVE experience for me. I will do my best to create a smoother path for you 
And let me not forgot to thank all the amazing mentors, esp women, I’ve been lucky enough to work with. I hope to emulate the example you have set for me in my own life and career, no matter where I end up. Ok that’s enough from me haha ty all!
I know this is pretty wordy for twitter so if you made it to the end u get a gold star 
